The patient
by Tillie Pup
Summary: While searching from something, Castiel is attacked. He wakes up trapped in a body that won't respond. There's an OFC. There's some subtle Destiel but no real pairings.


I do not own Supernatural. All the rights go to Kripke, the CW and all the wonderful crew.

Castiel was in total darkness. He couldn't tell if his eyes refused to open or if there was some sort of blindfold covering him. He tried to reach up to touch his face. His arm didn't respond. He tried to move his legs. His vessel wasn't responding to him. He was still connected to his vessel, but for some reason he was getting no response from it. He had never heard of such a thing happening before. He attempted to leave. If his vessel had become compromised it would be useless. He strained to free his grace from the physical form to no avail. He was trapped. His mind was jumbled. He couldn't remember what he was doing before he awoke in this state. He was searching for something, what he couldn't remember. Voices pulled him from his thoughts.

"So I was telling Deb to take Tom to that new Thai place off 16th and she says that Tom doesn't eat food made from foreigners. Well she didn't say foreigners if you catch my drift. I had no idea she felt like that. It makes you wonder if Mei's wedding invite actually got lost in the mail. " a female voice rambled on as footsteps drew closer.

"Yeah she's always seemed a little stand offish to me. Do you have any plans for dinner tonight?" a second female voice asked. Castiel wondered if the females could see him. He could imagine his vessel lying lifelessly on the ground. Had he been attacked? He felt hands on his vessel. What were these women doing?

"Hey Sophie help me turn him. He's on his back, so left?" the first voice questioned. Castiel listened puzzled.

"I was just grabbing some pillows. He looks small. You think 2 will be enough?" the second voice, Sophia answered. Why would they need pillows? And why did humans always call his vessel small? He was not as tall as either of the Winchesters but he was still taller than numerous humans. The hands on his vessel rolled him onto his side. The aforementioned pillows were shoved under his back, forcing him to remain on his side. The last time that happened he had been in a hospital. The doctors had explained the necessity of a timed turning schedule to prevent the breakdown of the skin he was laying on. Humans were so fragile. His vessel must be injured. Perhaps the injury was so severe it was affecting his grace. The two women's chatter gave him no clues to where he was or when it was. How long had he been in this state? Was he needed somewhere? What if he couldn't hear Dean in this state? It was most troubling. He focused on trying to move is vessel. He started with his left foot. When he had no response after a fair amount of time he moved onto his right foot, then his hands. He was currently trying to turn his head when he heard people enter his vicinity again.

"Well you know how the vegetable is, no change what so ever," said the second female voice from this morning, Sophia? What vegetable were they talking of? If he was in fact in a hospital there should not be food being stored in the same area.

A new female voice responded, " Don't call him that. He might be awake in there." He felt a soft feminine hand stroke his cheek affectionately. "Maybe he'll wake up today. You never know." So the first female was referring to him. Vegetables were incapable of movement so it was logical to compare him in his current state to one. The new female, maybe a nurse, was checking him for something, perhaps assessing the damage to his vessel.

"He hasn't moved in two weeks, he's not going to move now. As soon as one of the nursing homes gets a free charity spot we're shipping him out. Then he'll be someone else's to water." The first nurse complained. She did not seem fond of caring for him. The second nurse patted his hand comfortingly.

"I'm going to check my other patients. I'll be back soon, "the second nurse reassured him. Castiel felt that she genuinely cared for him. If he was able to properly sense her soul he was sure it would be warm and bright, like Dean's. If the first nurse was to be believed he had been in this state for the past two weeks. He needed to regain control over his vessel so he could check on Dean. There was no telling what kind of trouble the Winchesters could have gotten into. He returned to focusing on making his hand move. The sound of footsteps announced the return of the new nurse. She touched the hand he was trying to move. " Hey there Mr. Johnson or well whatever your real name is. I'm Avery and I'm going to be taking care of you this evening. It's 8 o clock at night and it's the 6th day of October. "the nurse, Avery, informed him. He was unsure of why she had called him Mr. Johnson. He didn't know any Johnsons. If it was already October he needed to get to the Winchesters soon to prepare for All Hallows Eve. Evil always reared its ugly head that night. "I hope you don't mind that I do my work in here. You haven't protested the last few times but you never know," She chuckled to herself. Castiel was confused. Why would this woman want to work near his hospital bed? Surely there were designated spots for the nurses to work. He did not remember a nurse spending a prolonged amount of time with him during his previous hospitalization. The nurses were efficient and through. They kept him clean, free of infection and medicated.

"So as I was telling you yesterday, Miss Maggie is due to give birth to her litter any day now. This will most likely be the first time she is going to give birth indoors. We're expecting six puppies from the x-ray but you never know. One or two could be hiding. She's gained about five pounds since the rescue took her in. "Avery announced to the room as she typed away on a computer. Either there was a computer in the room with him or Avery had brought one of the small computers that Sam favored. Cas guessed she was talking about a pregnant canine. He had never spent time with a dog. They looked pleasing enough but he preferred the company of humans when he was on Earth. Avery seemed to be emotionally invested in the dog. He knew that some humans kept dogs as personal pets in their homes. What Avery described sounded like a sanctuary for dogs in desperate situations, like the dog that was hit by a car and needed one of its legs removed. Whenever Avery was in the room with him, she prattled on about the different dogs. Castiel enjoyed the distraction.

Avery walked up the steps to her apartment. Her potted rose bush next to her front door looked like it needed water. She should take care of that, eventually. Right now she just wanted to get out of her clothes and into bed. She left a trail of her clothes on her way to the bed. Who knew what kind of germs she brought home from work. She turned the tv on and closed her eyes. She needed to fall asleep soon, she was scheduled to volunteer at the shelter at noon. She thought back to her patients today. Mrs. White was improving greatly with speech therapy. Mark had gone 24 hours without having a seizure. And then there was Mr. Johnson, or whoever he really was. She felt that he was still in there somewhere. Maybe he'd wake up soon and let everyone know what his name really was.

Castiel wondered what Dean was up to. Had he noticed his absence yet? It wasn't like he had a regular schedule of checking in with the Winchesters. The nurse that had replaced Avery didn't talk to him. It was frustrating to be trapped in his vessel. Avery had told him she was returning in the evening. She had a good soul. He could tell from when she talked to him. She cared about the dogs at the shelter, her patients and even him. She did so without expecting anything in return. That is what he loved so much about humanity, the passion behind their motives. "And how is our favorite John Doe today?" he heard Avery ask. It must be time for her evening shift to begin.

"The same as always. He breathes on his own, his lungs aren't gunky, heart beat is perfectly normal. Besides being completely lights on and no one's one he's perfect. Kind of wish we had more like him. He doesn't complain or try to get out of bed or call the police on us. Did you hear that Mr. Brown called 911 four times the other night? We thought we solved it when he took away his cell phone but would you believe he had a second one stashed away? Anyways let's go check on everyone else and let sleeping beauty rest," the day nurse explained. He heard them walk away from his room. He was neither a Mr. Johnson nor a John Doe, but he was sure that the day nurse was referring to him. He had several questions he wanted answered. He waited patiently for Avery to return. Avery took his hand in her own as she approached him.

"Hello Mr. Johnson. It's Avery, the nurse from last night. I'm just going to a quick physical exam to make sure everything is still working fine," Avery greeted him. After listening to his chest and abdomen she ran her hand through his hair and down his neck. "I'm just checking for pressure ulcers, and it looks like," Avery stopped, her hand resting on the base of his neck. "Well that's odd. Hey Kelsey come help me turn Mr. Johnson and hurry," Avery shouted to someone outside his room. There was a sense of urgency in her voice. Someone hurried into the room. He felt hands turn him over onto his side. "I don't see anything but I definitely feel something. It's like a needle or something. Kelsey could you grab a suture removal kit?" Castiel wondered what was going on. He shouldn't have anything protruding from his neck. Perhaps this was way his vessel was malfunctioning. Someone hurried back into the room. Avery was fumbling with something. He felt cool metal scrape against the skin on the nape of his neck and with a jerk Avery pulled something out. It felt like a wave of energy washed over him and with a gasp he opened his eyes.


End file.
